London has been battered by 50mph winds that have felled trees and caused travel chaos. Powerful gusts swept across the capital as the Met Office issued a yellow "be aware" weather alert for most of the country.

A £1billion scheme to help tackle the surge in youth unemployment will be partly funded by a squeeze on welfare support for low income workers, it emerged today.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg will announce details of a new fund to pay companies that create short-term job placements during a visit to Leeds tomorrow, where he will meet young people on training schemes. Funding for the scheme was approved by the Treasury after Liberal Democrats agreed that tax credits paid to poorer workers will rise next year by less than the 5.2 per cent inflation rate, implying a real-terms cut.

In other "growth strategy" measures due to be unveiled next week in the Autumn Statement, Chancellor George Osborne will bring forward major infrastructure schemes to create jobs more quickly. London's £16billion Crossrail project is among major investments that will be "tweaked" to speed up the jobs generated without increasing the overall costs.

Labour leader Ed Miliband used a speech in London today to urge the Government to let borrowing rise to lift the economy off the floor. "It is time for Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne to stop blaming the snow, the royal wedding, and the eurozone crisis for Britain's economic emergency," he said. "It is time for them to take their heads out of the sand and look at the mounting economic evidence. It is time for them to recognise that they are to blame."

Mr Miliband predicted that a forced rise in borrowing caused by lower growth would deliver "a catastrophic blow" to the Chancellor's credibility.

A Tory MP today broke ranks by calling on the Chancellor to borrow billions for tax cuts. "Even if we can't find the money for tax cuts from public spending savings we could add it to the deficit," said David Ruffley, a former Treasury aide.

Britain's borrowing costs fell below Germany's for the first time in three years today amid fears that the eurozone zone crisis is getting worse. The yield on UK 10-year bonds fell to 2.16 per cent, compared with 2.21 for the equivalent German bonds.